Engaging Life with Courage and Intelligence
Fake news and theories form a growth industry that prospers in America. While our counterfeit information might be cheaply exported, America will not require a protective tariff to import foreign misinformation across our borders. No other country is in our league since we are self-sufficient, and no country does it better. The various factions in…
The NY Times reports the inadvertent or conscious advantage given to some Chinese exporters over American importers. Despite the Trump Administration’s bravado and anti-China bombast, Chinese companies like Temu and Shein can AVOID tariffs for purchases under $800 made by direct-to-American customers. For example, if an American buys a $400 set of bowls from Temu,…
This will be a brief discussion of LIMOs. LIMO is an acronym for “Less Is More”. Commonsense LIMO While MIMO (More is More) is often a better outcome than LIMO, sometimes pursuing LIMO is better. Poor dietary habits and MIMO food quantities result in obesity, and LIMO is a way to ameliorate the problem. Poor…
As a history student, I have seen patterns in which normal social relationships break down. Government changes, unaddressed social inequities, wars, and famines often cause these pattern changes. In one example, from 1979 to 2015, the Communist Party declared that most Chinese couples could not have more than one child. Aside from the inevitable decline…
The good news is that we will not need to file our tax returns within a few years. That should make former Speaker Paul Ryan happy! The bad news is that a little-known corporation recently energized by Trump and DOGE will know everything about you, and thus, there will be no reason to report to…
It is painfully obvious that the standards for truth have declined in America since 2015. Anyone who believes otherwise is certifiably delusional. Instead of making America great again, the MAGA movement has weakened America by converting public discourse into a chaotic propaganda war. We have all fallen down the rabbit hole of mendacity. Instead of…
The word truthiness crept into the English language in 2005. It was coined by the satirical comedian Stephen Colbert. Truthiness denotes something to be true without any supporting facts or evidence. It was accepted as “truth” because it felt true or desired to be true. Truthiness is based on a person’s quick-firing gut instinct. Unlike…
The chaos of the Trump Administration’s tariff war is already causing importers and exporters to halt shipments worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic caused factories and most supply chains to freeze for extended periods. Have we forgotten the empty shelves of toilet paper? Do we remember the hoarding behavior? We can expect a similar experience by this…
We have all heard a joke similar to this one: A doctor, Elon Musk, a little boy, and a priest were flying on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble. Despite the pilot’s best efforts, the plane started to go down. Finally, the pilot grabbed a parachute and yelled to the passengers…
It is too bad Carl Sagan is not around today. He was an outstanding scientist and a great communicator. In 1980, Sagan developed and narrated a 13-part PBS television series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Sagan was not only a television personality and scientist but also an outstanding educator and author. One of his lasting contributions…